By Tom Manoff
From The Register-Guard
AMONG ITS MANY distinctions, the Oregon Bach Festival is the only
Eugene arts organization that's made a real commitment to contemporary
composers. Krzysztof Penderecki, Ärvo Pärt, Osvaldo Golijov and Tan Dun
are among the world's most prominent living composers who have been
heard here, several of them inspired by Helmuth Rilling to create
Bach-struck works. J.S. Bach as a spiritual anchor in a time of
stylistic chaos - not a bad idea for composers, famous or not!
On Saturday morning, in Beall Concert Hall at the University of
Oregon, the spotlight shifted to a group of mostly young, not so famous
composers, participants in a biannual symposium led by UO professor
Robert Kyr.
Portland's Oregon Repertory Singers and Third Angle Ensemble were
the consistently fine performers in "Choral Visions II." Although the
name "Bach" never came up in the endless speech-making about the music,
it seemed only reasonable at a Bach Festival event to listen with the
heightened sense of craft that his name implies.
More often than not, the music was thoughtful and heartfelt. In some
instances it was memorable. Ingrid Stölzel, whose innocently formal
string quartet was heard here some years back, has ventured into more
rhapsodic realms, if her "Lucent Dream" is any indication. Scored for
clarinet, cello, piano and percussion, the piece whirs with spiky
ostinatos in mirrored pairs, while the occasional longer melody floats
and jabs. Machine-like, but delightfully so, Stölzel's idiom rests
squarely in chunky counterpoint. The result, musically, is confident
and bold.
Greg Bartholomew, a fine composer not afraid of accessibility, set
Walt Whitman's "To a Locomotive in Winter" in a sturdy, lyrical style.
Tuneful and diatonic, the music seemed appropriately Whitman- esque.
Rebecca Oswald is not a showy composer, but she's an honorable one.
"The Soul Contemplates the Creator in the Creation" is splendid choral
writing. This unpretentious style isn't calculated to impress the
trendy set, but in terms of craft, it sure impressed me. Spend some
time with the score, and you'll find that inside the "simplicity," each
voice has its own lyrical life. Oswald would win the prize for best
choral-writing in honor of Bach, if there were one.
The concert did include one well known living composer: R. Murray
Schafer, the symposium's composer-in-residence. Words cannot capture
the rare beauty of Schafer's choral "Snow Forms." Even the word
masterpiece doesn't seem quite right, although this surely is one. The
performance by the Oregon Repertory Singers under Gil Seeley was
breathtaking.
Schafer was limited at this concert to only this work. What a
mistake not to offer more by this extraordinary composer. And he was
here as a guest! Programming Charles Ives' "Sixty-Seventh Psalm"
instead - simply because he's American - was flat-out silly. Not that
the Ives isn't a fine piece. It just didn't fit.
We were told from the stage that Schafer, who is Canadian, was
considered for the symposium's exclusively American programming because
he was North American. Well, that's one step forward, now turn south.
East is next. Although the composers did have a visit from Chinese
composer Tan, that's just not enough; he's here because of Rilling.
Consider this: Under current symposium rules, Tan would not be
eligible to replace Schafer as the symposium's next
composer-in-residence. This narrow philosophy translated into musical
problems throughout the series. The overall programming was
particularly clumsy, made so by forcing any and every American piece
into the cracks, whether it was appropriate or not.
The future of classical music - if there is one - is global. This is
not a time to exclude compositional voices because of nationality.
Rilling-style internationalism is the heartbeat of the Oregon Bach
Festival. The composers symposium should get on board.
Tom Manoff is the classical music critic for National Public
Radio's "All Things Considered." His review of "Choral Visions III"
will appear Friday.
http://www.oregonbachfestival.com/pressroom/news/208